Grand Prix Drivers’ Association chairman Alex Wurz has revealed why Red Bull are so much stronger than the rest of the field, with the Austrians having started the 2023 F1 season with back-to-back 1-2 finishes.
Red Bull have been unstoppable this year and have remarkably made further progress on their rapid RB18 from last season, which claimed 17 wins.
The RB19 is another sensational design by chief development officer Adrian Newey, who has managed to get the car to “run lower than all the others”.
Wurz has attributed this as to why Red Bull are so much faster than their rivals especially in a straight-line.
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“They can run lower than all the others,” the former F1 driver, and chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, told ORF.
“That means you can generate more downforce via the underbody than the others and therefore, conversely, you can use less wing and achieve a higher top speed.
“And they are able to do this without getting caught out with the phenomenon of porpoising.”
Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton hailed the RB19 as “so fast”, with it being the fastest F1 car he’s ever seen after being overtaken by Max Verstappen with ease in Saudi Arabia.
He even suggested that Mercedes were never as quick as Red Bull are now during their dominant era from 2014-2021, something ex-F1 driver Robert Doornbos doesn’t agree with.
“To hear that from his mouth is special,” he told Ziggo Sport, “because his Mercedes, certainly in 2014 at the introduction of the hybrid engines, was so much more dominant than any other car.
“And the extreme time he gained against the others was just by driving in a straight line.”
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Doornbos went on to agree with Wurz’s judgement but added that the Austrians have boasted strong straight-line speed “for the past two years”, whilst Mercedes simply don’t have a “good car”.
“People forget is that Red Bull has been fast on the straights for the past two years,” he said. “So now they are taking a Monza-like wing to Jeddah.
“The Mercedes is not a good car, so what can they do? They need more wing to get more downforce and that creates more drag and less speed on the straights.”